Development (6-12 months)

Ditch the dummy and bottle

Supporting your child to wean off bottles and dummies

Ditching the dummy has many health benefits.

Babies who use dummies have fewer chances to babble and extended use of a dummy may contribute to dental and speech sound problems.
It’s easier to wean a baby off a dummy than it is a toddler, so the sooner the better.
Dummies travel around the house and your little one might often be leaving it lay around, they are found to harbour many germs and can be the cause of middle-ear infections due to the sucking opening the eustachian tube (which links the nose and middle ear) and allowing bacteria from the nose into the middle ear.
Try to use a dummy as little as possible. When your child is speaking, ensure to remove their dummy to give them a chance to enhance their speech and language.
Most children use their dummy as a comforter. When trying to remove it this can face a challenge. Reducing the amount a dummy is used over the day is a good way to start the transition, starting by only using a dummy at sleep times only.
Replace the dummy with lots of distraction and support your child to develop other ways of self-soothing and comforting. Try using a favourite blanket or toy to replace when they would usually have their dummy.

Point out older girls and boys, who don't use dummies, to your child. Pre-schoolers love being more grown-up
Encourage your child to give all their dummies away to a person who is important to them, such as a grandparent or pre-school key worker
Reward your child with fun activities, stickers or star charts, but don't give them sweets instead of their dummy
Cut or puncture the teat so that it’s broken and needs to go in the bin.
Reading story books or making up a story about children that give away their dummy can help those little minds be less reluctant to give it up
Remember your child will grow out of their reliance on their dummy.
Teach your child good oral hygiene and explain the dummy will make their teeth poorly, encourage them to throw it away and allow them to do it
Exchange the dummy or bottle for a toy or activity or new toothbrush
Try sending it to Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy or the Dummy Fairy
If your child attends a nursery or pre-school, get them on board with supporting the transition and they can also encourage the child to give away or throw away the dummy.

Similar to dummies, the teat on a bottle can be damaging for the shape of children’s teeth
Having juice and drinks from a bottle also targets directly to the teeth and can cause tooth decay
A bottle can provide comfort to toddlers therefore replacing it with something more fun can help ease the transition
Encourage your child to use a 'big girl's/boy's' cup
Finding a free flow beaker with your child’s favourite character or in their favourite colour may help them swap
Serve milk and water using beakers and cups, this will protect their teeth
Avoid any beakers that require sucking to obtain the fluid as this can also target the teeth
Often the cheapest beakers are free flow and the more expensive beakers are not, so check your products, just because it’s expensive it doesn’t mean it’s the best
Provide lots of cuddles and love when your child is giving up their bottles and dummies, this is a big step and they need to feel comforted